Ideas for VERY dry content

I think one of the other things you can do, and this flips out a lot of folks, is ask a multiple-choice question before you deliver your content. Let's say we're in the middle of a (very dry) process, and we want to set up the next step.

I like to sort of review what we've done so far and where we're going, and ask them what they think might come next. Something along these lines:

"OK, remember, we're trying to make sure we execute the XYZ process correctly, and, when we're done, our output will be this... So far, we've done X and Y, but, before we can get to Z, what do you think we need to do?"

Then I have a multiple choice question with lots of good feedback to ensure they understand now only why the wrong answers were incorrect, but explaining why the correct choice was the correct choice. If someone gets the question correct, they get reinforced for being clever (or, granted, a lucky guesser), and if they get it wrong, they get feedback on their thinking.

Either way, though, I've already asked them to think critically about what's next, not just in terms of getting the right answer, but to consider the logic behind what we're doing.

Lots of folks think it's unfair to ask questions like this before you deliver the content, but I've found that if you get a question wrong, you're eager to find out why.